STALKER: The Clear Call
by Alpha Legionary
Summary: A STALKER joins an expedition in the hopes of finding his fortune. Yet he finds himself in another place, perhaps another time.
1. Out of luck

**A little something that I kept thinking about for a while, and decided to make a story out of it. With some luck it will not be horrible, hope you like it.**

* * *

Many kind of people come and go in The Zone of Alienation.  
For every cunning genius you will also find the dumbest of idiots. For every trustworthy partner you will also find the lowest of scumbags. And for every desperate man, out of luck and money you will also find the silliest of thrill seekers, out for treasure and recognition.

Curiously, The Zone makes sure to punish or reward accordingly to their behavior.  
The cautious remains hidden, and the careless gets discovered. The loyal sleeps peacefully at night, and the double-crosser has to watch his own back. The smart finds advantages everywhere, and the stupid can only hope for the best.

But at the end of the day, it always ends the same; the foolish dies and the wise survives.

Even so, regarless of the harsh nature of this place, more and more people keep coming, for one reason or another, selfish or selfless. No matter how horrible a STALKER dies, someone outside The Zone is ready to take his place, thinking he knows better or that he will be the exception.

With that in mind, it makes the bar feel all the more _empty_ today.

Sharp looked around the bar for the third time, hoping to find at least someone new, but to his growing disappointment the same 4 people were still there.  
the Barkeep who kept watching the TV behind him and reading some messages he got. The trenchcoat creep Snitch glued to his corner. That drunk Duty who does nothing but sulk in that table day after day. And the bouncer who's only purpose in life seems to be reminding people that they can't enter the door he's guarding.

"I guess neither of those messages are about something I can do," Sharp said without moving form his table.

"You give accurate predictions, and for free no less," deadpanned the Barkeep. "You might want to start working as a seer."

"That's a very funny joke and you're a very funny man," Sharp responded nonchalantly. "This toast is dedicated to you." He raised a bottle of vodka and took a drink, the Barkeep chuckled a bit to his act.

A comfortable silence returned to the bar, it lasted all of 2 seconds before Snitch chimed in. "If you need money, I can give you the location of a hidden stash near Cordon... and for free I might add."

"Yeah sure!" Sharp turned to Snitch. "The last 'free sample' you gave me was an empty bag on the very top of a tree!"

"A free bag is a free bag," Snitch defended while pointing a finger at Sharp.

That bag was actually of rather good quality. In fact, it was the very bag Sharp was using right now, but he didn't want to give Snitch any kind of satisfaction, so he simply shrugged him off and turned back to his table.

"_Goddamnit! this sucks,_" he thought, then grabbed the bottle and drank a mouthful.

He found that bottle with a good amount of vodka in an empty table and miraculously that Duty drunk didn't noticed it. The burning sensation and the aftermath it leaves are 2 feelings he always welcomes, but that pleasure is starting to turn bland.

He had hoped to earn some money here but the Barkeep was somehow out of jobs, and there were no other STALKERs here to chat with. Getting drunk with a leftover bottle of vodka was the only thing he could do to pass the time, and with no real amount of money with him, he couldn't even watch the arena, let alone bet in it.  
And he's not crazy enough to actually _fight_ in it! Definetly not after hearing they pitted someone with only a knife and no armor against an exoskeleton with a 200m.

To hell with this. If patience wouldn't give him an opportunity then he would go look for one.

Sharp got out of the table and made his way to the exit but quickly stopped. He didn't know where he should go, and for what.  
Annoyed, he raised the bottle for a sip, and stopped halfway there. He got it! It was clear as the liquid inside of it; scavenging! Of course! If he could find a free bottle of vodka in a bar, he could find anything, anywhere!

Excited, Sharp adjusted his bag, made sure not forget anything, took a drink to congratulate himself, another one for good luck, and quickly left.

With bottle in hand and greed in his heart he went to the Wild Territory.

* * *

A rookie STALKER was making his way trough the Garbage Dump, walking along the road while gazing into the mountains of junk. He finally got a good enough weapon to go beyond Cordon; a Viper 5! And just recently he made a fine deal with a trader.  
Things couldn't get better for this rookie. In his good mood he started humming a song.

He turned his head to the side to keep watching the rusted mountains when he noticed that someone was waving at him at the distance, it was another STALKER. The mysterious fellow realized he got his attention and started walking towards him.  
The rookie stood still, and walked towards this STALKER, maybe he got something important to say? Like the warnings about those emissions he heard back in the village?  
As the fellow grew closer the rookie could get a better view of him; this man was wearing a Sunrise suit yet didn't have any kind of weapons with him, not in his hands nor in his back, maybe he only uses pistols? He's either a good shot or just shamelessly cheap.  
They both drew closer to each other and stopped once they were at a good distance to talk.

"Hello there, pal! What's your name?" The fellow questioned in a friendly tone

"My name's Tolik, brother," Answered the rookie.

"Pleased to meet you Tolik, I'm Jaska! Say, what are you doing here?" His friendly tone all the same.

"Just making my way to Rostok. I've got someone waiting for me there." This was starting to get a bit weird. But this fellow seemed friendly enough.

"Really?" Jaska said as he nodded. "Well in that case I wouldn't want to keep you waiting, but there is a problem here." His friendly tone began to dissapear.

"What... kind of problem?" Worry began to engulf Tolik, he felt his hands moving on their own towards the Viper in his back.

"You see, this is a private road, and there's a fee for people who want to go across," said Jaska, and in the hills a couple of STALKERs started to show up, 4 of them, all wearing trenchcoats and aiming their guns at Tolik. He realized what was happening, they were bandits! and they got him right were they wanted.

"**Move even an inch and we will turn you into a colinder!**" Jaska yelled, one of the bandits laughed with a sinister tone that made Tolik shiver. This was Cordon all over again! But now alone and outnumbered! He couldn't risk it, he had to play along.  
Tolik slowly raised his hands above his head. "P-please... don't kill me, I just want to go to Rostok... I-I don't want any trouble..."

"That's good to hear, pal," Responded Jaska with smugness. "As long as you don't do anything stupid we won't kill you."

Tolik only nodded with fear.

"As I said, this road has a fee; a 1000 rubles per head, pay and we will let you go."

"I-I don't have a 1000 rubles!" Tolik yelled in desesperation.

"That's fine, you can also pay with any stuff you have," answered Jaska.

Tolik was hesitant. The only thing he got that wasn't considered basic equiment was the artifact he bought in that deal, and he didn't want to hand it over.

"I... i've got 400 rubles and an artifact! A-a Stone Flower! They're yours..."

A smile grew in Jaska's face, "that will do! Leave them in front of you and step back. And do it slowly!"

Tolik did as he said, slowly and carefully he got the artifact out of his bag alongside 400 rubles, leaved them on the ground and stepped back. Jaska walked towards the loot, picked it up, counted the rubles and inspected the artifact.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Tolik. And now get out of here," he said with the most serious of tones, while pointing at the road behind him.

True to his word, they allowed Tolik to pass trough. He walked without delay, not saying anything nor seeing anyone, his eyes looking firmly at the floor.

He walked a good distance away and the bandits dissapeared from the hills. With the danger gone Tolik felt his walking pace slow down, and his head weighting a ton more, he had no money and no artifact to sell now.  
Maybe it could've gone worse, he could've lost all his stuff and get shot instead. Normally that grim kind of thoughts helped him deal with a bad outcome, but in this case it wasn't. His new plan for the day was once he reached Rostok he would go to one of the buildings and sleep the day away until he felt better.

Indeed; things couldn't get better for this rookie.

* * *

Somewhere in the hills a group of bandits where walking back to their headquarters, almost howling with happiness with such an easy payday. One of the bandits stopped his celebration and turned to Jaska.  
"Seriously thought, '_turn you into a colinder?_'" He covered his mouth as some laughs escaped from it. "C'mon! That sounds like something straight out of a B-movie, log!"

Another bandit joined in. "Hey man, you can't slander B-movies like that just because _he_ sounds stupid!"

All of them laughed, then silence fell to the group.

"So," said the third bandit of the group, his voice a bit uneasy. "How are we going to split the money? I don't even know how much a Stone Flower is worth."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of that once we sell it," responded Jaska.

"The fuck you will," exclaimed the last bandit as he rushed to the front. "You always split the money and you always end with the biggest cut!" The other bandits looked at him, and then each other. It's always like this, they get much less in comparison.

"This again? Look, I already told you why," Jaska answered annoyed. "Yes, I get a bigger cut but remember; i'm the one who goes there unarmed and reels people in!" He turned around to face his grumpy friend, walking backwards as he talked. "If the target feels fighty or some boars attacked out of nowhere, then i'm dead!" He turned to the front once again. "Also, we got an even better job later, so stop whining."

The angered bandit stopped in his track. "**That's bullshit!**" All of them stopped after hearing that. "You say you could get hurt but not once has a target fought back and not once we were interrumped by something else. You keep getting more for a supposed risk that never happens!"

"Ruski's right," said one of the other bandits. "And besides, guns or no guns, we are just as likely to get killed! What if the next target felt like shooting at the one with the gun _instead_ of the one with no guns?"  
He stood firm and crossed his arms. "Once we reached the Dark Valley we will sell the artifact and split the money equally, if you don't like that then good luck working alone."

All of the bandits were now looking at Jaska, who stood there, arms crossed, thinking what to say. His face then showed something, something new; sympathy.

"You're right," he said. "I'm taking more than I should." That statement shocked them, they expected Jaska to double down or keep going with another excuse.  
"How about this?" he resumed. "I stay with the 400 rubles and you split whatever money you get from the Stone Flower." He took the artifact out of his bag and handed it to them.  
"This must be worth 2000 rubles or so. That's 500 for each of you, What do you say?"

"500 rubles!? Hell yes!" 2 of the bandits said at the same time. The other was thinking about it, "sounds good to me," he said shortly after. The only one who didn't say anything was Ruski, who was still looking straight at Jaska.

Jaska extended his hand. "C'mon man, i'm giving you this chance. We cool?"

Ruski looked at him, then the floor for a while, and him again. "Fine, but it better be worth a lot," grumbled as he walked past Jaska, ignoring the handshake offered to him.

With this little drama out of the way, they all resumed their travel back home. Jaska was happy with this. "_They can be dumb as hell sometimes_," he thought.  
_"Yeah a Stone Flower might be worth 2000 rubles but that's only if you sell it to those egghead Ecologists, nobody else would pay that much for a some shit that produces radiation! They'll likely get 1200, leaving me with the biggest cut once again as it should be!"_

"_But... what if they actually sell it at 2000_?" He thought somewhat worried. "_Whatever, that would shut them up for a while. No plan is without risk after all_."

* * *

The Wild Territory is a testament to the decay The Zone creates, whatever that man brought here is now ruined beyond hope. Cars turned upside down and rusted to shit, bent railroads that lead to collapsed tunnels, half finished buildings rotting away in the distance and half demolished building rotting away in front of you.  
Whatever you looked at, it was fucked.

"_Maybe scavenging here wasn't such a great idea_," Sharp thought.

The bravado from the vodka quickly dissapeared, he doubted he could find much of anything here. Even then, from what he heard of, he had to go through bandits, mercenaries if he was unlucky, or worst case scenario mutants like Bloodsuckers.  
The moment he thought of that, Sharp turned around and walked away. Facing those things just to scavenge stuff wasn't worth it.

Maybe he could give it a careful try if he had better gear. His Sunrise suit had decent protection for this, but he had an AKM-2U as his main weapon, a sawed-off for the occasional wild animal and a rather humble PMm. He would feel safer doing this with a better gun, even an AKM-74 would be a good enough upgrade.

Sharp kept walking away to no direction in particular, the concrete and steel of the Wild Territory were replaced with the dirt and trees of the outside. Much nicer for the eyes, no doubt, but now Sharp was not sure where he was. He took out his PDA and looked at his location on a map, he was between Rostok and the Garbage Dump now.

That was better, maybe he could go to the Dump and try his luck there. Yes, there were bandits and even less stuff to look for, but also no mercenaries and no Bloodsuckers to worry about.

Sharp went south to the Dump. So far his day hasn't improved, but he thought this could be the turning point.  
He walked for a good while, did not stopped once, and wasn't going to until he could see the mountains of metal that made the Dump so famous.

He then stopped.

There was someone else, at the distance, another STALKER, he looked a bit troubled, yet not in a serious way. Walking as he tilted his head from one side to the other, playfully tapping the front end of his AKM-74.

Sharp thought nothing of this, and was ready to keep going. The STALKER then noticed him, promply stopped his act and started waving at him.

Sharp waved back, and resumed his travel south. It is always nice to see a friendly STALKER but he had money to find right now.

He walked a couple steps, then stopped again, there was a noise coming from behind. He turned and found The STALKER running towards him, gesturing to stop.

Normally STALKERs minded their own business, doubly so if they are alone. Yet this one was quite concerned with meeting him. Sharp stopped and waited for him to come, might as well hear what he had to say.

The STALKER reached him breathing loudly. "Give... give me a second." He leaned on a tree, repositioning his balaclava. "I'm Tinker... pleased to meet you," said the STALKER taking breaths between words.

Sharp waited for Tinker to say something else, who stood there leaned on that tree. His breathing now starting to normalize.

"Hello Tinker," Sharp said, to alleviate the uncomfortable silence.

"Yes! Sorry for bothering you," Tinker responded, walking away from the tree with his posture much better. "Are you busy right now?"

This sounds good. "Actually no," Sharp answered. "I was hoping to find something to do, my name's Sharp by the way."

"Perfect!" Tinker smiled as he said that "Are you interested in a job, Sharp?"

Finally, what he wanted to hear. "Of course, what you need?"

Tinker took out his PDA, and showed it to Sharp, it had the image of what looked like an entrance underground. "There's a tunnel somewhere between Yantar and Agroprom, and I heard it leads to an abandoned army base not yet found," Tinker's eyes were filled with excitement. "If we find it, then we have an army's worth of weapons and ammo to loot!"

Sharp was shocked. An army base!? that was a gold mine! He tried to stay calm and cleaned his throat "S-so, does your job have something to do with that base, or you just trying to make me jealous?"

Tinker laughed "I knew you'll like this! Yes, my plan is to go search it, but you heard the stories of those places, they are full of treasures but also with dragons guarding them!"

"Yes, the more dangerous kind of mutants are underground." Said sharp, trying to hurry him up.

"Exactly," resumed Tinker. "I can't go there all by myself! So, my offer; we go inside with a team to check the place, and loot whatever that isn't nailed to the ground, your payment is whatever you find there!"

This was a golden opportunity, this was the golden opportunity Sharp was looking for. But only 2 of them? They still needed to find more STALKERs. "Wait," he then said, "If you're recruiting people why you're out here and not somewhere like Rostok?"

"Because I wasn't in Rostok when I heard of it," Answered Tinker.  
"I've just learned this from some group I met a couple of minutes ago. They needed to take care of something first, and told me to wait for them at the coordinates, and if I can, bring as many people with me."

"So," Tinker straightened himself, and extended his hand. "We got ourselves a deal?"

Sharp, extended his own, and the both made a handshake. "We got ourselves a deal."

* * *

**Well damn, the story became longer than I thought, this was supposed to be the first half of the chapter. Oh well, the real stuff of the story will have to start in the next chapter, apologies.**


	2. Out of options

**What was supposed to be the other half of the first chapter is now here, enjoy!**

* * *

These parts don't get many visitors.  
STALKERs don't wander around here, not because they are any more dangerous than other parts of The Zone, simply because there's nothing. Just open fields with the occasional tree every so often.

Sharp thought this was somewhat nice. Definetly better than walking around the ruins of some factory.

He and Tinker travelled for a really good time since their agreement, the land slowly began to turn into swamp, it's was a bit more annoying to move around, but just that. Sharp kept watch for anything that could take them by surprise, and Tinker followed the coordinates to the base.

So far they found no trouble on their way there, being in the middle of an open field meant nothing could sneak their way towards them, and with no STALKERs around theres nothing that could be a real threat to the pair. Other than easily avoidable anomalies, the only thing he spotted on this long walk was a boar in the distance, and it simply kept to itself and wandered off after a while.  
this was fine and all, but a bit uneventful. You can only walk for so long before you get bored out of your mind.

"Hey, How long till we find it?" Sharp said.

"We're close, give it one more hour or so and we'll be there," Tinker said, his eyes not looking away from his PDA.

No need to keep watch then, they were almost there. Sharp looked at Tinker, "How exactly did you came across this job?" He asked, might as well keep talking. "Got no work to do and just wandered around like me?"

"Something like that," Tinker said as he looked back. "A trade went bad and left me looking for money elsewhere."

"What happened?" Sharp questioned.

"Just bad luck, I was supposed to meet someone in Rostok for a deal," Tinker said.

"Yeah," Sharp nodded. Both of them stopped in front of a small barbed wire fence. Tinker carefully climbed over the fence as hecontinued talking, "well, the poor bastard got himself robbed on his way there and called off the deal, so I went to Cordon to buy low and hopefully sell high, that's when I met this group," He finished, now on the other side.

Sharp climbed on the pole of the fence and jumped over, "Are you a trader, then?" Sharp asked as they resumed their journey.

"That's right!" Answered Tinker with pride, "I make my living through trading! Put me to negotiate a deal and I'll be in my prime!"

"What if someone hold us at gun point and demands all our stuff?" Sharp joked.

"Simple! I'll buy out his weapon!" Tinker joked back confidently.

Sharp chuckled. "Alright, that one got me." He looked at the sky, the sun was setting, it would get dark soon.

"And you? Any line of work you excell at?" Tinker said, done with his PDA.

"Not that I know of," said Sharp taking out his bag and pulling ouy a head flashlight from it. "I mostly keep tabs on all kind of jobs, the easy ones mostly, like hunting animals or looking for stuff."

Tinker took out a flashlight of his own. "Well if you're looking for money after this, then call me up! We traders are always in need of more stuff or getting things done!"

"I will, and if I ever loot another abandoned base you'll be the first to know," Half-joked Sharp.

"Speaking of which," Tinker said, pointing at the hill in the distance. "This is the place."

* * *

Soggy grass buried in mud, trees twisted into shapes that were curious at best and unsettling at worst, and a hill sticking out from the ground with the subtlety of a dislocated bone.  
This was the place of the coordinates.

Sharp looked around, he couldn't see the entrance, not there, nor in the woods and neither or anywhere in the swamp.

Tinker looked at Sharp, and checked the coordinates. "Don¡t worry, this is the place. It must be somewhere around here," he said.

"Let's start searching then," Sharp said as he drew his gun. "You check the right side of the hill, I'll check the left."

Tinker nodded and drew out his gun, they began to surround the hill.  
What little Light that remained started to fade, and soon after darkness covered the area. They turned on their flashlights and continued, they helped them see only a couple of meters away. They met again at the other side, with the entrance dug on that part of the hill: a rusted metal gate, with plants growing between the bars, closed with a lock.

As Tinker took out his PDA, Sharp began to collect branches, sticks and leaves. He putted them all in a dryer part of the floor and soaked them with vodka. Taking sips of his makeshift fuel, Sharp took out a Zippo and lit the little pile on fire. The small flames of the bonfire began to grow, bringing warm and light to the dark swamp.  
Tinker approached Sharp and took a seat, "alright, I noticed the guys that we're here, now we just need to wait."

Sharp nodded and shared his bottle to Tinker, an act he accepted. "What can you tell me about these guys, are they Loners?" Sharp asked.

"Most likely" Tinker said as he took a drink from bottle, and gave it back to Sharp.  
"They're like 4 in total, maybe more, they had common equipment and weapons from what I remember. They sure aren't Duty thought," he finished.

"Because of no easily distinguished uniforms?" Asked Sharp, finishing his bottle.

"Because Duty would never do something like this," Tinker said. "They would rather demolish the base with explosives than make use of what's inside!" He said with some exasperation, throwing an arm in the air.

"No wonder these people weren't recruiting in Rostok, Duty would've shot them on the spot!" Sharp said with some laughs.

Tinker laughed, "What if they are actually Freedom, and were recruiting just outside of Duty's base just to fuck with them?"

Sharp laughed aloud with Tinker. "That sounds like Freedom alright!" He said while slapping his leg.

A noise interrupted the conversation. It was coming from Tinker's PDA. "It's the group," Tinker remarked. "They will arrive later, and we can start without them if we want."

"What? 'Start' without them?" Sharp said perplexed.

"Yeah" Tinker put out his PDA and looked at Sharp, "to compensate for making us wait, we can risk it and call dibs on whatever we find."

"This is an undiscovered base they found, and they let us enter first, just like that?" Sharp said, skeptical. "Something is not right here."

"Yes, but..." Tinker looked at the entrance. "It's still and an undiscovered base we can enter first..."

Sharp looked at the entrance, he couldn't take his eyes off it. This was stupid, his gut was telling him this was stupid. It could have mutants, it could have anomalies, it could have nothing but the skeletons of previous would-be-explorers like them.

But, those skeletons could have something, then- **No! This is stupid!**

It could be just a research lab, with nothing but documents and failed experiments.  
But, those documents could be confidential, and they are of great value to someone.

No, this is stupid.

It's likely just a military outpost instead of a base, it wouldn't have much in it. Maybe just some worthless stuff like canned food and medicine.

No, those are useful.

And if it was military, maybe it had ammunition too... perhaps it could also have guns stored somewhere... and probably sturdier outfits too.

Sharp stood up, greed won over caution. Tinker looked as he aproached the gate, and hesitantly got up and followed.

"What if... " Tinker said, "What if we run in with something?"

Sharp drew out his shotgun and turned to Tinker. "The moment we see something hostile, we shoot it dead and we run like hell," he Said. Tinker nodded.

Sharp buttstroked the rusted lock, it cracked in two and fell to the muddy ground, the noise of the hit was still echoing inside the building.  
He grabbed one of the bars and pulled, the gate didn't move. He putted away his shotgun, grabbed the bar with both hands and pulled again, it barely moved. Tinker grabbed another bar and the both pulled with all their strenghs.  
The hinges gave in, rusted pieces of metal jumped out of them as a metallic screech resounded through the area.

The gate was now open.

* * *

Inside was a short concrete hallway, cut wires hanged from the ceiling, metal rods coming of the walls and broken tiles scattered the floor.

Sharp entered with Tinker following close behind, both moving slowly, and with their rifles aimed in front of them.

At the end, bolted to the side of the wall was a metal staircase leading below in a spiral.  
Sharp reached it and looked down over the edge, a very long way from where he was, and still his flashlight could not illuminate the bottom.

He grabbed a tile from the floor and dropped it beyond the railing of the stairs. It falled into the dark and a couple of seconds later a loud cracking noise echoed from the bottom. He aimed his rifle down, expeting something to scream and climb its way up. He waited for a minute, and another, nothing came out.

"Well... no roars or howlings, that's good," Sharp said with some relieve in his voice.  
He putted a foot on the first step of the stairs and pressed, it wasn't sturdy but it wouldn't break. He did the same with the next one, and the next one.

They went down with absolute care, Sharp tested every step of the stairs before standing, if it creaked too loudly he would skip it it and go for the next. Tinker kept aiming below for anything that showed up, walking exactly where Sharp walked.  
With every step downwards darkness engulfed more and more of the place, their flashlights were the only thing that kept them out of complete blindness. Outside in the swamp they could see a couple of meters away, down here only one.

They reached the bottom after what felt like a day, a room not too different from the hallway above welcomed them, it had a table and some crates, and at the end were two closed doors.  
Tinker went to one of the door and opened it. He peeked from the corner, and gave a thumbs up to Sharp before going inside.

Sharp nodded and walked to the crates, they looked like military storage boxes.  
He opened the first one; it had a silenced PB1s, a Fort-12 and ammo to spare, not a new rifle but definelty good.  
He opened the second one; Six grenades! Three F1 grenades and three RGD-5. This was getting better and better.  
he putted the whole loot in his bag and walked to the table, it had a small blue box on it.

Tinker came out of the room and walked towards Sharp, "_I don't think there's anything alive here_," he whispered.

"_Me neither, nothing attacked us so far_," Sharp whispered back.

He grabbed the box with one hand and drew his knife. "_Got anything in that room_?"

"_Yes, I did_" whispered Tinker with a smile on his face, his bag looking heavier than before.

Sharp nodded and pried open the small box with the edge of his knife, a red light came out of the box, slightly illuminating the dark room. It was an artifact, a fireball!

Sharp quickly took it out and hold it close with both arms. This trip was worth it, no matter if they didn't find anything else, no matter if it was a nest of mutants, it was already worth it.

"_Nice_," whispered Tinker. Fireballs were really useful for dealing with radiation, not to mention the heat and light it produces, it could be sold for a good price if needed to. Sharp attached the artifact to his suit, he would never take it off from now on.

Tinker walked to the other door. "_Might as well check this out too_," he whispered.

He opened the door and the both checked inside, a rather large room, filled with the same deterioration than the others, though this one was also full of burned machinery and broken computers on top of rotten desks. There was't much that could be looted other than some small wooden boxes scattered around and those desks.

Sharp entered with his rifle ready, Tinker remained close to the door. Once inside Sharp could see three hallways, one in each opposing wall. The one of the left collapsed and the one in front lead to a dead end, the one on the right caught his attention.  
There was something at the end of it, a massive transparent bubble that kept shaking, looking like it would pop off at any moment.

Sharp stood there confused, was that an anomaly? It didn't looked like any he encountered before. He grabbed a piece of brick from the floor and threw it inside the bubble, the brick flew and completely dissapeared from sight. He grabbed a much bigger brick and threw it to the bubble. Just like the first one the brick dissapeared without any trace or trouble.

Sharp was astonished, this couldn't be an anomaly, it didn't became a chaotic danger when bothered. "_Hey Tinker, look at this_," he whispered.

Tinker entered the room, "_what?_" He whispered while looking around, Sharp pointed at the giant bubble in the corridor. Tinker looked at it and flinched back.

"_You know what's that_?" Sharp asked.

"_Careful!_" Tinker whispered unnerved. "I_t looks like an anomaly I heard._"

"_It is? I threw some stuff at it, and it didn't exploded into fire or showered acid everywhere."_

"_It is, if you touch that it will take you somewhere else, and there's no way to tell if it'll be safe or dangerous._" Tinker said, pointing a finger at the anomaly, "_Someone ran into one of those and got trapped, he messaged his friends for help but they couldn't get him out, after some days he starved to death,_" He finished, looking at the anomaly with caution.

"_Oh_," Sharp said with unease, he looked at the anomaly with the same caution as Tinker and walked away a couple of steps from it.

A noise invaded the room, Sharp jumped back trying to take aim at whatever was there and Tinker nearly dropped his rifle tapping his pockets, the noise was from his PDA; it got a message.

"For fuck sake Tinker, put that shit on silence already!" Sharp said with a hand on his chest, breathing deeply.

"Sorry, sorry," Tinker said as he checked his PDA, then smirked.  
"Oh, very funny" he deadpanned, then looked at Sharp, "the group's here, they asking if we're still alive down here."

Sharp rolled his eyes, "funny bastards," he scoffed and walked out of the room.

Tinker followed him, "well, they do sound like Freedom, after all..." he joked. Sharp gave a small laugh.

"Whatever, let's go meet them" Sharp said.

The both went to the stairs and made the long way up.

* * *

The staircase got brighter as they reached the top, and they could hear people outside.  
Once on top they could see them; there were five STALKERs arguing.

"No! We got nothing out of that!"Angrily said one.

"And apparently it's my fault that our trader got killed!? Yeah I'm so sorry the Dark Valley got assaulted by that madman!" Responded another one.

"Dark Valley?" Sharp thought, and stopped.  
He grabbed Tinker by the shoulder and dragged him to a corner of the entrance, he protested but Sharp shushed him. Unsure, Tinker remained silent. Sharp turned off his flashlight before looking at the group again, he could see them illuminating each other with their flashlights.  
There were five in total, and the one in the middle was being confronted by the rest.

"The base had nothing to do with this! you said it was a rare artifact, and no one wanted it!" One said.

"So!? I can't control what people want!" Said the one in the middle.

"You fucking tricked us! You knew that artifact was worthless and didn't say shit!" He yelled and stepped closer.

The middle one stepped back. "No! Just- Let's talk about it after this, alrigh-"

"We won't talk shit, **Fuck you!** Once we kill those 2 inside you're on your own!" Interrumped other furiously.

Sharp knew it, bandits. This was simply too good to be true, all of this was a trap and he fell for it like a fucking retard. Tinker grimaced and shook his head, not only they made a fool out of him, he dragged someone else to this.  
One of the bandits turned to the entrance, a sudden light fell over Sharp and Tinker, slighty dazing them.

"They're here!" he alarmed. All of them turned to them.  
The flashlights of the bandits completely illuminated the inside and the outside of the entrance. Hiding was now impossible, Sharp tried to look at them but could only distinguish five lights coming from the darkness.

"Tinker, come out here with your pal, we need to talk," a voice said.

Sharp and Tinker went to each side of the gate with the rifles ready and turned off their own flashlights.

The voice sighted, "you overheard our little disagreement, right? Well then let's make this quick, give us what you found insid-"

Sudden gunshots interrupted him.  
A burst came out of Sharps rifle, he aimed at one of the lights in the dark. It trembled and fell to the ground.

"Rusky!" another voice yelled. One light turned and illuminated a body laying in the ground.

All of the lights turned to Sharp, blinding him. He took cover and the field outside started flashing, with each shot a chunk of the floor or the wall came out.

Tinker peeked from his side, four shots came from his rifle, four instants of brightness on him. One of the light moved from Sharp to Tinker.  
Tinker took two shots, and the light fell down. There were only three now.

"Motherfuckers!" Another voice yelled.

The bandits stopped shooting, their lights were still illuminating the entrance. Neither Tinker nor Sharp wanted to peek out, they stood there waiting for an opportunity.  
Something flew to the inside, it bounced two times and stopped near Tinker, he looked at it.

"SHIT!" He yelled stumbling back, trying to dig his way in the wall, it was a grenade.

Sharp quickly jumped out and approached the greneade, he grabbed it and throwed it back with all his energy. He ran back to cover as the grenade flew out to the field, and just one second later exploded mid-air. Tinker compused himself and gave a grateful nod.

Gunshots started again, but these ones weren't hiting anything near them. All the lights of the bandits moved away from the entrance.

"What the fuck!?" one bandit yelled.

"We found it, eliminate all witnesses!" a new voice yelled outside.

The whole area drowned in sounds of burstfire and gunshots.

"It's the military!" Tinker jumped out alarmed, he quickly turned to Sharp, "let's get out of here, this is our chance!" he said as he ran outside.

"No!" Sharp yelled, raising a hand to stop him, but Tinker was already gone. He followed hesitantly and stopped halfway out, there were many gunshots around the place, each one illuminating some part of the field like a lightshow, three flashed in front, nine further at the distance, seven to his left and eight to his right.

He runned back inside and hid in the shadows, the chaos was too much. With such a firefight stray bullets could easily hit him, or maybe they could spot him as he runned, or he could bump into one of them.

He looked outside nerviously, trying to gather all the valor he had, suddenly the firefight stopped and silence took hold of the now dark field. Sharp bolted to the staircase, there was no chance to make a run for it now, he had to hide.

"Hostile inside the building!" he heard as he reached the staircase.

Sharp turned on his flashlight and went down the stairs. He didn't stop for anything, there was no time to test the steps, he had to guess wich one to ignore and wich one to step on, his light might give him away, but he couldn't risk to trip and fall down.

"He's down there, don't let him escape!" He heard.

He started to run, the staircase now shaking from his haste. Steps creacked, cracked and even bent on his way down. What felt like a day, now it took only a minute, he reached the bottom.

Sharp runned to a random room and closed the door behind him, he couldn't escape, and they knew he was there.  
Broken computers and machinery, this was the computers room. Desperately he pushed the machines and moved the computers, hoping to find some kind of tunnnel or hole to hide.

He found the anomaly again, right in that hallway.  
Sharp stood there looking at it.

"_Maybe..._" He thought. "_Maybe what?! Get stuck in some tunnel and die!?_" He thought again.

If he jumped, where would it lead to? Somewhere in Cordon? Right at the Red Forest? A nest of bloodsuckers in the middle of nowhere?  
It could save him, but it could take him into an even worse problem, if not outright kill him.

If he stayed, he had to fight the military, outnumbered by who knows how many of them.  
For how long his ammo would last? or his supplies? How long could he last to begin with?

He had to make a decision; face the military or go through the anomaly.

Footsteps came from outside the door, "Check the rooms!" he heard. They were already here, and he already decided.  
Sharp runned towards the anomaly, gaining as much speed as he could.

He jumped and his vision went completely white.

* * *

Sharp fell face first to the ground, his vision came back to him. He nervously looked up, there were trees, he was in a forest. He quickly stood up and looked around, no traces of the anomaly behind, no bloodsuckers running around, and no dead end.  
Just a small forest in the middle of the night.

Relieved, Sharp chuckled, then started laughing outright, he kneeled and threw his arms in the air yelling in happyness. It worked, it actually worked. He escaped!

He got up and started walking, throwing a prideful laugh every so often.  
It didn't mattered where he was going, it didn't mattered where he was right now, nothing mattered at this moment, he felt like the king of the world.  
He looked at the trees as they passed by, bigger, sturdier and much less twisted than the ones in that swamp. After a while he reached the end of the forest and found himself in a valley.

The grass looked healthy, and and felt easier to walk on. The sky was full of stars and did not have a single cloud in it, the moon itself illuminated the area with its blue light. He turned off his flashlight, he could see just fine without it.

He turned to the side and looked at a mountain, a really-  
Sharp stopped dead in his track, and kept looking at the mountain completely dumbfounded.

there was a mountain.

Not an over glorified hill with junk stuck in it. An actual, gigantic mountain was rising in front of him. The Zone didn't have any mountains, at the very least not one as big as this one!

Sharp came back to himself and took out his PDA, he needed to know were he was. He activated the tracking device and... nothing. There was no map, no location, no coordinates.

He tried again, and again, it gave the same result. He tapped the PDA, turned it off and on, took out the battery and putted it back again, The thing simply didn't work.

Sharp stared at his PDA disconcerted, then looked around.

"Where the _fuck_ am I?"

* * *

**Alright, we are in the main part of the story now, hope you like where this goes.**


	3. Not safe, not sorry

**This took a bit longer than the last time, and maybe 1 or 2 whole rewrites. But it's still good, it's still good! Enjoy.**

* * *

On a quiet valley, in the middle of the night, a worried STALKER didn't know what to do.

Sharp put away his PDA, the tracking didn't worked and he had no idea of where he was. Being lost is bad enough, but being lost in an unknown place is a complete disaster. Maybe the anomaly did something to it? Considering how things kept getting worse, most likely. But that didn't matter to him. Right now, the thing was useless.

He looked around the place, he had to start moving, but where to go? The forest he came from didn't sounded like a good idea, the mountain in front of him looked somewhat traversable, but that wasn't going to happen, and the field had nothing showing in the distance. Sharp sighed and started over, he looked at the mountain again, and thought exactly the same of it. He kept looking this time though, maybe he didn't need to walk all the way through it, just enough so he had enough elevation for a better view, and start searching from there.

That was worth a shot, he reached the base of the mountain and started walking up, after nine steps the ground began to elevate considerably. Eight steps after and that elevation turned into a slope. Five steps after and Sharp began to slow down. Two more step and he fell on all fours, out of energy. He turned around and sat on the inclined ground trying to catch his breath, from up there he had a better view of the field, but it remained as empty as before.

Frustrated, Sharp got up. He stumbled as fatigue invaded his body and almost made him fall, he regained his balance but maintaining it felt much more taxing.  
He put a hand over his belly and rubbed it. Was it because of hunger? He hasn't eaten since signing up to this mess, in fact he couldn't tell when was the last time he ate, vodka on itself doesn't sound like good nourishment. He felt his stomach suddenly turning into itself, and that convinced him it was hunger.

Sharp walked back to the valley, holding his bag with one hand and searching for food with the other, he could grasp a loaf of bread deep inside but it kept slipping away, moving left, moving right, then left again, the damn thing didn't want to get caught, he was not in the mood for this. Once Sharp reached more evened ground he serenely turned his bag upside down and let its content fall, weapons, ammunition, equipment, all of it came down as he watched patiently. When the loaf finally showed up Sharp snatched it mid-fall, he took a bite, chewed ferociously, and swallowed, all in but a moment. He took another bite, and another, the feeling of food hitting his stomach was exactly what he needed.  
He left the bag on the ground and took out whatever remained inside, every so often pausing to take a bite of bread.  
The bag was now empty, all its content was outside. He took off his own weapons and gear, and added them to the pile of stuff.  
With everything now on the floor, Sharp separated the medicine, the ammo, the guns and the supplies, organizing and arranging them into different groups. If he was going to wander around aimlessly, he would do it knowing exactly what he had:

Weapons:  
-AKM-74/2U rifle with a sling.  
-Double-barreled shotgun, sawed-off.  
-PMm pistol.  
-Fort-12 pistol.  
-PB1s pistol with a supressor attached.  
-3 F1 grenades.  
-3 RGD-5 grenades.  
-Military knife.

Ammunition and magazines:  
-187 rounds of 5.45x39mm - AK (5 mags).  
-76 rounds of 9x18mm - PMm (3 mags), Fort-12 (1 mag), PB1s (1 mag).  
-24 shells of 12x70 Buckshot.

Food and medicine:  
-5 bandages.  
-2 medkits.  
-3 sausages.  
-2 canned meats.  
-1 full bottle of vodka.

Other stuff:  
-PDA.  
-Gas mask.  
-Head flashlight.  
-Fireball artifact.  
-Zippo lighter.  
-51 rubles.  
-Empty bottle of vodka.

Sharp grabbed the bottle as he ate the last bit bread, this was the bottle he found in the bar, also the one he finished in the swamp.  
He actually brought an empty bottle all the way here... that was amusing for him, like watching someone falling flat to his face, Sharp chuckled at that last thought and tossed the bottle aside.

All was now accounted for, he grabbed his AK and left it hanging on his shoulder. The PMm pistol, now in his holster. The three F1 grenades, mags, knife, all on his belt. And anything else of utility would go to his pockets. The rest of his stuff would go in the bag, all equipment in the main compartment, extra ammunition in a side pocket, food and medicine in the other side pocket, and the shotgun strapped outside in a pouch.

With his stuff checked, his gear equipped, and his and hunger sated, Sharp left the valley.  
He still didn't know where to go, but to hell with that, he had to go somewhere, sitting around with his thumb up his ass would not get him out of this mess. With nothing but the blue moon to give him half an idea of where he was going, Sharp ventured forward into the field, determined to not stop until he stumbled with something, it was only a matter of time.

* * *

_"You are now in charge as the new commanding officer, congratulations."_ Major Shastkovich remembered those words as he entered his "office" at Cordon's checkpoint.

He walked towards his desk where a bundle of papers and a plastic mug were waiting for him. His eyes wandered from those papers to the drawer on the side of the desk, he opened it and drew out a large bottle of vodka. He filled the mug to the brim with the strong liquid and drank it all in a few chugs, the vodka barely gave any effect to him. He returned the bottle to the drawer and began with the paperwork of the hour.

_"Congratulations,"_ Shastkovich grumbled mockingly, recalling how he got into this shit position, just like every time he dealt with the paperwork.

The previous commanding officer, Major Kuznetsov, was killed in action. Officially Kuznetsov died defending a railway bridge from an assault made by STALKERs. from what he heard though, the asshole died because a bribe went bad.

With no commanding officer barking orders in The Zone, the higher-ups quickly looked for a replacement and picked Shastkovich for his merit of "being the least incompetent."  
They rushed the promotion ceremony, slapped a new title on his uniform, and kicked him back at Cordon.

It sounded like a golden opportunity, no more patrols, no more missions, just sitting still in a safe checkpoint giving orders. Indeed, now he's stuck 20 hours a day managing reports after reports of failed objectives and other stuff he'll be blamed for, while those beneath talk shit at his back, and the others above talk shit right at his face, all of that with a miserable paycheck for someone in the rank of major. He did this only a couple of days and already wished he was dead.  
No wonder Kuznetsov was such a pain in the ass, this was unbearable.

A sudden knocking interrupted his scolding, sending a rush of pain across his head alongside an urge to drink another mug of vodka, no doubt it was more orders from outside. He rubbed his temples trying to ease some of the migraine before straightening up. _"Come in,"_ he said maintaining composure.

An officer opened the door, he stepped inside and saluted. _"Major, Beta-1 and Beta-2 returned."_

Shastkovich's eyes widened ever so slighty after hearing that, _"send them in."_ The officer nodded and closed the door.

Beta-1 and Beta-2. those were the ones sent to an outpost in the wilder parts of The Zone. Apparently said outpost was used a research station, and hopefully they could salvage whatever info they had, or if they were really lucky; intact documents.  
He did not take any chances and sent two squads of 14 soldiers each. It might have seemed excessive, but the last mission involving a hidden laboratory ended in failure, and his superiors made it clear they wanted results this time.

The door knocked again. _"Come in,"_ Shastkovich said as he grabbed a pen and a clipboard from the desk. Two officers entered the room. Sergeant Barnoko, leader of squad Beta-1, and Sergeant Kostonov, leader of squad Beta-2. They both entered and saluted.

_"Since you returned I assume the mission went well,"_ said Shastkovich as he stood in front of them. _"Give me a quick rundown of the mission, from the start."_

Barnoko nodded, _"we arrived at 2146 hours, we found the outpost next to a group of STALKERs outside."_

_"Yes,"_ Shastkovich said as he wrote on the clipboard, _"what happened after?"_

_"We ambushed them,"_ Kostonov replied, _"my squad attacked from one side while Barnoko's attacked from the other."_ Shastkovich nodded and kept writing without saying a word.

_"Some tried to escape, but we killed them all."_

_"What were they doing before you ambushed?"_ The major asked, his hand still writing.

_"They were all fighting another STALKER cornered in the outpost,"_ Barnoko replied.

_"Yes."_ Acknowledged Shastkovich without looking away from his clipboard. _"This STALKER, is he dead?"_ he asked.

_"He ran further inside the outpost, and-"_

_"Is he dead?"_ He asked again, no longer writing and looking at Barnoko straight in the eyes.  
Barnoko opened his mouth but closed it soon after, his eyes slighty looking back and forth, Shastkovich kept staring at him, silently urging the sergeant to give an answer.

_"I... remained with my squad around the outpost, keeping guard,"_ Barnoko said as his eyes remained straight ahead, though not focusing on anything, _"Kostonov's squad chased the STALKER inside."_

Shastkovich gaze turned to Kostonov, the sergeant remained calm but a glaring anger remained in his eyes. _"We pursued the STALKER who retreated deep inside the outpost. We searched every room, but he was gone."_

Shastkovich remained completely still, not believing a word of what he just heard. _"I ordered you to kill all witnesses..."_ the major finally spoke.  
He looked at Barnoko, then at Kostonov, neither of them responded. Sighing, he let the pen and clipboard fall to the floor, bringing some noise to the uncomfortably silent room, he walked to a nearby wall and leaned on it, one hand covering his face in disappointment.

_"When I talk, you both can hear me, is that right?"_ he asked.

_"Yes, major,"_ both sergeants said meekly.

_"Then If I give you an order, and you don't follow it, is not because you can't hear me,"_ Shastkovich said as he walked back in front of them, _"is because you **shit** on the order I gave."_

_"No, major, we followed your orders!"_ Kostonov said, his eyes shifting between looking at his major and the Floor, _"we chased him into a dead-end, there was no other way out of the outpos-_

_**"AND YET HE ESCAPED!"**_ Shastkovich all but yelled, his voice resonating through the room.

Kostonov didn't said anything else, whatever words that tried to come out died midway on his throat. Barnoko kept looking straight ahead trying to ignore the yelling the best he could.

Shastkovich turned to Barnoko, his face mere centimeres away, _"Don't think you're out of this! You're at fault as much as him!"_

_"W-why, major?"_ Barnoko stuttered.

_"That STALKER escaped from a dead-end! If you were keeping guard outside, then you should have **CAUGHT HIM!**"_ He said, anger dripping out from his mouth.

Both sergeants stood there, silently enduring the berate of their major.

Shastkovich went to his desk, and slammed it, _"We sent two squads exactly to avoid any more of this! What if he stole any documents before escap-!?"_

_"The documents are here!"_ Kostonov said desperately.

Silence finally returned to the room, Shastkovich kept looking at Kostonov, completely dumbfounded, _"You found documents?"_

_"Yes! We found them while searching for the STALKER, they're now in the barracks."_ Said Kostonov, reassuranced that the major stopped screaming.

Shastkovich remained still as his blood began to cool down. He straighten his posture and put both hand behind his back. _"The STALKER escaped, and it was blind luck that he didn't stole those documents beforehand. I'm not saying this to disminish you, i'm reminding you that luck is not something we can rely on."_

_"Yes, major,"_ they responded.

_"It's not what I asked. But nonetheless, this mission is a success. After I finish with these reports I will call you again to have the full details. Until then, dismissed."_

Both sergeants saluted and turned around for the exit,

Shastkovich stood there watching as the sergeants left the room, once alone he sat at his desk and collapsed, sighing in relief, a huge weight just got lifted from his shoulder. Fuck the STALKER or that he escaped, those documents are what mattered here! If word got out that more of them were stolen, it would've been 2 hours straight of his superiors screaming down their throats at him! Alongside another cut to his paycheck. This was a much needed break ever since he took command.

After that comforting pause the major regained his posture and resumed his paperwork. Those documents were important, but if these reports weren't finished by the end of the hour, this much needed break would be gone already. God knows why his superiors were so obsessed with documents and report.

* * *

Sharp sat on a nearby rock, cleaning the sweat on his face with the sleeve of this suit.  
He walked during the whole night, through morning, up until now. That might've sound arduous, but Sharp was used to great amounts of walking, that was a given for any STALKER, He just needed a quick break now and then, and he was good to go.

Sharp looked around the place, the field didn't changed much, there were more trees scattered around and some hills were looming over the green pasture. He looked up to the sky, the afternoon Sun was shining brightly, and without a single cloud trying to cover its light. It was a really pleasant day.

A yawn escaped his mouth. This place was so nice and quiet he might lay down and fall asleep right there. While he could manage physical tiredness, sleepiness was another story. Fighting off the somnolence, Sharp got up and resumed his travelling, that break was much shorter than usual but he couldn't risk to nod off, he was still lost and didn't looked like he was getting closer to anything.  
Sharp tried to think for anything to distract himself from the annoying drowsiness.  
He took out his PDA, The tracking didn't worked and in his frustration Sharp resigned to use it. Might as well check what else didn't worked. After all, anger helps you stay awake.

Sharp tested everything in his PDA as he travelled, and to his surprise, it worked well.  
He recorded an audio that sounded fine, took a picture that looked clear, the time it gave was accurate enough, and all the data was still there. Every message, every coordinate, and every map.  
This was a really good to know, maybe it needed some time to work properly again, anomalies are known to make machine go haywire. Hopeful, he activated the tracking device, it showed nothing. Sharp sighed and put away the PDA, oh well at least everything else worked just fine.

Sharp's travel went on without any problem, now he kept himself occupied thinking of what part of the empty field he should go next. A drop of sweat sliding down at the side of his face interrupted his thoughts, a feeling most irritating. He wiped it off but it managed to fall into his mouth. Sharp cringed at the salty liquid and spat it out, leaving behind a horrible dry taste. Unlike hunger, thirst was something that Sharp wouldn't easily notice until pointed out, and just now he noticed how much he had without water.  
He reached for his bag but stopped dead in his track at the realization.  
He didn't had any water.

_"Oh God, no!"_ Sharp yelled, opening his bag and searching in a desperate attempt to prove himself wrong. He never brought any, why waste any money on a plastic bottle when the tap water of the bar was good enough, and also free? That stingy behaviour just made this situation much, much worse.  
He resumed his walking without delay, moving in a newfound haste unfitting for someone who didn't slept. No more moving around aimlessly, he walked in a straight line and wouldn't change it no matter what. The trees passed by, the grass became thicker and the hills drew closer, his desperation pushed out all kind of exhaustion. He had to find a river, a stream, a puddle, anything that had water, for his description of this travel being 'just a matter of time' turned really grim.

The ground rose and dropped, Sharp walked past the hill and barely noticed, too busy thinking of how long he would last without water.  
He did noticed something, on the ground nearby there was a distinctive lack of grass, he stopped to looked closer and found a thin a line of dirt that went from one point of the field to the other, a road.

It wasn't water but Sharp felt almost saved, if there was a dirt road then people traveled here, there must be something either way, but which to choose?  
The right side lead further into the field, and the left side went towards a forest nearby. He chose the forest, with so many trees it should have some sort water source nearby.  
Sharp followed the road with the same haste as before, but driven by relief instead of desperation, the road itself was much easier to walk through compared to the fields, he was already half way into the forest before he noticed. The sky began to turn orange, and sharp found the sun setting at his side, was it evening already? He had to hurry up.

The forest was now mere meters away, and as the night took hold of the field, a new light emerged from the wood, growing brighter between the trees with shades moving around it. Sharp rushed towards it half expecting a trick or something similar. As he got closer, it became clear that it was a fire, a bonfire, illuminating a rather simple camp with its orange light.

But the state of the camp didn't mattered, what mattered is that there were people in it, three of them sitting around the fire.  
Sharp smiled. This was it, the worst has finally passed.

He sprinted to the strangers. _"Hey! hey!"_ He yelled, running past the trees and reaching the camp. The strangers were surprised, almost startled, by their uninvited guest coming from the woods.

Sharp stopped in front of them, breathing heavily and trying his best to calm his heart rate.

_"Please... do you have any water?"_ he asked in a dry voice.

The strangers barely reacted to his question, Sharp was about to ask again but noticed that they weren't looking at him, they were looking at his suit. It was a far cry compared to the simple clothes of linen and leathers they wore.

_"Hey! I'm lost, I need water!"_ Sharp yelled, an act that hurt his throat.

That got their attention, their focus was now on him. One of them called up, a man a bit large who's face was obstructed in a hood. He got up and spoke something at Sharp.

Sharp didn't understood a single word of it. _"What? Can you speak russian?"_ He replied.

The hooded man was about to say something else, but stopped. he sat down and turned to his friends as they began talking again. Just what kind of language was that? it didn't sound like anything Sharp heard before. As they talked to each other, one of them, a young man with blonde hair kept looking at sharp ever so often, his clothes, his bag, and his equipment.

_"I just need water, please!"_ Interrupted Sharp.  
He received only the annoyed expressions of the group, their initial confusion and curiosity changed into irritation. They returned to their conversation, and by the tones they used, it wasn't friendly.

Sharp grew impatient, this wasn't the rescue he was hoping for. _"C'mon, you know what I mean! water, wa-ter!"_ He said, mimicking drinking from a bottle.

The last of them, a thin man with long dark hair, got up with a smile. He might had an idea of what Sharp was talking about, he spoke to his friends and walked towards a pile of bags nearby. from them he took out a leather bottle and shook it in front of Sharp, trying to confirm if this is what he wanted.

Sharp nodded excitingly, "Yes, YES! That!" he said extending his hands forwards. The man complied and threw the bottle at him. Sharp catched it in an instant, his mouth was twitching from anticipation, finally he had water. Overjoyed, he took the lit off and began to drink... nothing, it had nothing!  
Sharp look at the bottle with his mind completely blank. The trio exploded, rocking back and forth in a cacophony of laugher. Sharp glared at the perpetrator, and threw the bottle to the ground.

_"Very funny? Really fucking funny, isn't it?"_ Sharp said as he walked towards the long haired joker, he was too busy laughing to notice, and a punch to the face sent him straight to the ground.

Sharp drew closer for another punch, but stopped. The man was moaning in pain and covering his bleeding mouth with both hands, he was not getting up for some time now. Sharp relaxed his hand and shook it up and down, trying to get rid of the soreness in his knuckles. He got him right in the teeth, it hurt like a bitch but after seeing that fucker in such a sorry state it was worth it.

The sound of something unsheathing caught Sharp's attention. He quickly turned and found the hooded man, now up, growling something in that damn language of his while pointing at Sharp with a knife.

Sharp remained unamused and drew out his pistol. The hooded man prepared himself but when he looked at the firearm he became slighty confused.  
A loud blast pierced his ears, and an agonizing pain tortured his chest. A second blast came, as deafening as the first but with barely any pain following it. A third blast came, and his lifeless body stumbled to the ground. Sharp turned to the other two. The thin man was still down on his back, watching in a motionless shock at the corpse of his dead friend, and the blonde one was now up, one hand covering his ear and the other extended cautiously in front of himself.  
Sharp aimed his pistol at him, once the blonde man realized that he was being targeted he cowered back, speaking in a shaking voice.

Sharp remained aiming at him. _"Get out of here!"_ He shouted while waving a hand to his side.

The shaking blonde looked at where Sharp waved, but turned to his long haired friend. He very slowly walked towards him, watching scaredly at Sharp, who kept his distance walking one step back for each one the blonde took. When he finally reached his friend he kneeled and helped him get up. The both remained still, giving sharp a pleading look, Sharp nodded his head to the side and waved once again.  
His nodding, and the lack of any gunshots were the confirmation they needed, and ran deeper into the forest.

Sharp remained aiming until they were completely out of sight, he was tempted to kill them too to be sure, but only that hooded idiot threatened him. Yeah, the fucker with the punchable face played him a rather sick joke, but a joke is not the same as getting shanked.  
Now sure that he was alone Sharp put the pistol back in his holster, he sighed and looked at the floor disappointed. This could have gone better, he came asking for water and ended up shooting someone- Sharp dropped every thought and turned to the pile of bags, they were still there, the other two left them in their hurry. He rushed towards them and searched for their content, and in one bag he found two similar looking leather bottles.

Sharp grabbed one, by the weight he could tell this one was full, he opened it and drank. The liquid inside was tasteless, and nonetheless delicious, finally he got water.  
Each drink almost felt rejuvenating, and in just a couple of seconds he finished the whole bottle. His thirst was not sated though, and he grabbed the other bottle without delay.  
As soon as the liquid entered his mouth Sharp spat it out and threw the bottle away. It was horribly bitter, and most importantly; it wasnt water.  
The taste remained in his mouth, but at least he was no longer parched, a bottle worth of water should last him enough to stop worrying for some time. Sharp grabbed the empty bottle he finished and putted it in his bag, when he finds water Sharp will fill it up. He learned his lesson, from now ona bottle of water will always accompany him.

Sharp turned around and found the corpse of the hooded man, he walked towards it and kneeled, might as well loot it.  
He pried off the knife from its hand, it was different from what he expected, the blade was larger and double-edged, thought it was badly rusted, and so blunt that it couldn't cut thought paper, to think that he tried something with such a shitty knife made Sharp groan.  
He tossed the knife aside and searched the corpse. At a closer inspection those clothes looked sturdy, they were made for hard labor in mind, not for comfort or convenience. And it showed, they had no visible pockets to speak off, not in the pants, nor the vest. Sharp did managed to find something, 3 holes going through the vest. That hard leather might had helped against the scratch of a wild animal or even the cut of a knife, but definitely not against the gunshots of his pistol.

Sharp stopped searching, he got up and gave a last thought to hooded man.

he died a stupid death, his equipment was utter shit, and didn't had anything else to loot.

With that, Sharp left the warm light of the camp and returned to the dark road, following it deeper into the forest.


End file.
